Tonight's Davidson game chance to 'work on things'
COLLEGE PARK - The Maryland Terrapins know the season has ended for most of their Atlantic Coast Conference brethren, who went down over the past week in the NCAA tournament or the National Invitation Tournament.
That the Terps (17-12) are still playing is little consolation to coach Gary Williams or his players, who would much prefer preparing for an NCAA Sweet 16 game rather than tonight's NIT second-round game against Davidson (23-8) at Comcast Center.
But Williams said the reality of the Terps' situation set in during the first half of Maryland's 85-72 victory over Oral Roberts in an NIT first-round game last Wednesday.
And the Terps are simply trying to make the best of it.
"I didn't realize it at the time, but I think everybody that plays in a major conference, when you don't make the [NCAA] tournament, you have to get through that mental letdown," Williams said. "But then once you do ... you get to play basketball some more. This has been a valuable time for us in terms of playing together and working on some things that we can do for the NIT, but also for next year."
This time serves particular importance for junior Sterling Ledbetter, the Allegany Community College transfer who will be the only true point guard on the Terps' roster next season if junior John Gilchrist does what several people within the program expect and enters the NBA draft.
In his first start of the season last week, Ledbetter, who missed the first four games this season with a torn calf muscle, played a season-high 30 minutes, scored 10 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had five assists. Ledbetter is expected to start again tonight.
Williams said yesterday that Gilchrist probably won't play because of ankle and wrist injuries.
"It could be real big," Ledbetter said when asked how much this experience could help him next year if Gilchrist is gone and he enters the season as the starting point guard. "I'm not sure what's going to happen [with Gilchrist], but regardless, I'll be here doing whatever for the team. ... [John's] helped me out a lot, telling me little things. I've just got to go out there, run the team and play hard."
Williams complimented Ledbetter on his energy and his defense, and called his nine rebounds "a feat."
"It's a great learning experience for him because he didn't get to play a lot early," Williams said. "Things like that build your confidence. You can't play that position without being a very confident basketball player."
Like Ledbetter, sophomore Will Bowers is clearly playing on another level than when the season began. After scoring a career-high 10 points in the ACC tournament loss to Clemson, Bowers, the 7-foot-1 center, registered a career high with 14 points against Oral Roberts.
"Hopefully, I can keep rolling with it and it's not just a two-game thing," Bowers said.
Williams said he has tried to keep this week's practices fun and allowed the team to scrimmage, a rarity at this time of year, several times.
The Terps insist that Davidson, which went undefeated in becoming the Southern Conference regular-season champs, has their attention.
"[During the Oral Roberts game], we just finally let it go and just played," Williams said. "I think that's the most fun we've had playing in a while and it carried over into practice this week. Hopefully, we can do the same thing against Davidson."
NOTES: Williams said yesterday that he gave Tulane permission to talk to senior associate coach Dave Dickerson about its head coaching vacancy. The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported in today's editions that Tulane athletic director Rick Dickson likely will interview Dickerson as early as tomorrow. ... Tonight's winner will play Texas Christian on Saturday for the right to advance to the NIT semifinals next week at Madison Square Garden in New York.
COLLEGE PARK - The Maryland Terrapins know the season has ended for most of their Atlantic Coast Conference brethren, who went down over the past week in the NCAA tournament or the National Invitation Tournament.
That the Terps (17-12) are still playing is little consolation to coach Gary Williams or his players, who would much prefer preparing for an NCAA Sweet 16 game rather than tonight's NIT second-round game against Davidson (23-8) at Comcast Center.
But Williams said the reality of the Terps' situation set in during the first half of Maryland's 85-72 victory over Oral Roberts in an NIT first-round game last Wednesday.
And the Terps are simply trying to make the best of it.
"I didn't realize it at the time, but I think everybody that plays in a major conference, when you don't make the [NCAA] tournament, you have to get through that mental letdown," Williams said. "But then once you do ... you get to play basketball some more. This has been a valuable time for us in terms of playing together and working on some things that we can do for the NIT, but also for next year."
This time serves particular importance for junior Sterling Ledbetter, the Allegany Community College transfer who will be the only true point guard on the Terps' roster next season if junior John Gilchrist does what several people within the program expect and enters the NBA draft.
In his first start of the season last week, Ledbetter, who missed the first four games this season with a torn calf muscle, played a season-high 30 minutes, scored 10 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had five assists. Ledbetter is expected to start again tonight.
Williams said yesterday that Gilchrist probably won't play because of ankle and wrist injuries.
"It could be real big," Ledbetter said when asked how much this experience could help him next year if Gilchrist is gone and he enters the season as the starting point guard. "I'm not sure what's going to happen [with Gilchrist], but regardless, I'll be here doing whatever for the team. ... [John's] helped me out a lot, telling me little things. I've just got to go out there, run the team and play hard."
Williams complimented Ledbetter on his energy and his defense, and called his nine rebounds "a feat."
"It's a great learning experience for him because he didn't get to play a lot early," Williams said. "Things like that build your confidence. You can't play that position without being a very confident basketball player."
Like Ledbetter, sophomore Will Bowers is clearly playing on another level than when the season began. After scoring a career-high 10 points in the ACC tournament loss to Clemson, Bowers, the 7-foot-1 center, registered a career high with 14 points against Oral Roberts.
"Hopefully, I can keep rolling with it and it's not just a two-game thing," Bowers said.
Williams said he has tried to keep this week's practices fun and allowed the team to scrimmage, a rarity at this time of year, several times.
The Terps insist that Davidson, which went undefeated in becoming the Southern Conference regular-season champs, has their attention.
"[During the Oral Roberts game], we just finally let it go and just played," Williams said. "I think that's the most fun we've had playing in a while and it carried over into practice this week. Hopefully, we can do the same thing against Davidson."
NOTES: Williams said yesterday that he gave Tulane permission to talk to senior associate coach Dave Dickerson about its head coaching vacancy. The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported in today's editions that Tulane athletic director Rick Dickson likely will interview Dickerson as early as tomorrow. ... Tonight's winner will play Texas Christian on Saturday for the right to advance to the NIT semifinals next week at Madison Square Garden in New York.
